1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for group supervisory control system for an elevator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the typical group supervisory control system for an elevator system, when a hall call is registered, an elevator car suitable for responding to the hall call is selected dependent on data required for the group supervisory control, whereby the hall call is allocated to use a car.
Proposals have been made in publications such as the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 115566/1980 in which a day is divided into a plurality of time zones and traffic and service data for an elevator are statistically gathered for each previous time zone in order to perform group supervisory control for elevator cars.
The conventional system is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3.
In the figures, the reference numeral (1) designates a car controlling apparatus for controlling cars (only one apparatus is shown in the figure); (1a) designates car condition data such as a car call, car load, car direction; (2) designates a group supervisory control system; (2a) designates data for statistics such as condition of each car, waiting time of a hall call, an estimated floor for response; (2b) designates a group supervisory data such as the floor allocated by the hall call; (2c) designates a hall call registration releasing signal; (3) designates a statistical apparatus for statistic operation of traffic and service data for an elevator; (3a) designates statistical data such as a hall call probability, a car call probability, the passage entering times at each floor; (4) designates exterior apparatuses such as a hall call detection apparatus, a waiting passenger number detection apparatus; (4a) designates a hall signal such as a hall button signal, a signal indicative of the number of waiting passengers; (6) designates an up-call button signal which changes to "H" by operating the up-call button (not shown) at the first floor; (7) designates a counter which counts number of times input I changing to "H" to output signals and is reset to zero when an input R changes to "H"; (8) designates a gate circuit for outputting the input I when an input G changes to "H"; (9) designates an adder for adding inputs A and B; (10) designates a time zone renewal pulse which changes to "H" with a predetermined time interval (for example, for each one hour); (11) designates a delay circuit whose output changes to "H" with a predetermined delay when an input changes to "H"; (12a), (12b), . . . (12x) designate time zone signals shown in FIG. 3 wherein (12a ) designates the time zone signal which is in "H" level from the time when the time zone renewal pulse (10) in "H" at 7 a.m. changes to "L" to the time when the pulse in "H" at 8 a.m. changes to "L"; (12b) designates the time zone signal, similar to the signal (12a), which is in "H" level from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and (12x) designates the time zone signal, similar to the previous signals, which keeps "H" state from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.; (13A)-(13X) [(13D)-(13X) are not shown] designate AND gates; (14)-(37) [(17)-(37) are not shown] designate call times memory circuits for each time zone; (14A)-(37A) [(17A)-(37A) are not shown] designate gate circuits similar to the gate circuit (8); (14B)-(37B) [(17B)-(37B) are not shown] designate memory circuits which memorize data of the input I to output signals and are reset to zero when the input R changes to "H"; (14C)-(37C) [(17C)-(37C) are not shown] designate gate circuits similar to the gate circuit (8); (38) designates a counter similar to the counter (7); (39) designates a reset signal which changes to "H" at 0:00 a.m. on Sunday; (40) designates a divider for outputting a value by dividing the input A by the input B; (41) designates a memory circuit similar to the memory circuits (14B)-(37B) [(17B)-(37B) are not shown]; and (41a) designates the output of the memory circuit (41) as a first floor up-call probability signal included in the statistical data (3a) of the FIG. 1. The same circuit is provided at each floor other than the first floor and also in the down-call system.
When the up-call button at the first floor is operated, the up-call bottom signal (6) changes to "H" whereby the counter (7) counts the number, that is, the number of operations of the up-call button. When the time zone renewal pulse (10) changes to "H" at 7 a.m. the gate circuit (8) is opened and the times of call occurring in one hour from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. which is counted by the counter (7) are input to the adder (9). The output of the delay circuit (11) changes to "H" with a predetermined time delay after the time zone renewal pulse (10) changes to "H" whereby the counter (7) is reset to start recounting. When the time zone signal (12a) changes to "H", the gate circuit (14c) is opened to output the total value accumulated in the memory circuit (14B) from the previous day, that is, the total counts of the call times accumulated during one hour from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. from the previous day. On the other hand, the counter (38) counts the number of times zones (12a), i.e., the number of the days and accordingly, the mean value per day of the call times occurring in one hour from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. is calculated by the divider (40). The value is memorized in the memory circuit (41) and is output as a call times probability signal (41a). On the other hand, the output of the gate circuit (14c) is input to the adder (9) to be added with the call times during previous one hour. When the time zone renewal pulse (10) changes to "H" at 8 a.m., the output of the AND gate (13A) changes to "H" to open the gate circuit (14A) whereby the data of the adder (9) is memorized in the memory circuit (14B). When the time zone signal (12a) changes to "L", the gate circuits (14A), (14C) are closed and simultaneously, the time zone signal (12b) changes to "H" to open the gate circuit (15c) whereby the total value of the call times occurring in one hour from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. which has been accumulated from the previous day is output and the mean value per day is output from the divider (40). When it is 0:00 a.m. on Sunday, the reset signal (39) changes to "H" to reset all the call times on each time zone. As a result, the output of the divider (40) is given as the mean value for a week for each time zone. The same description can be applied to the floors other than the first floor and also to the down-call.
Thus, the call time probability signal (41a) indicative of the means value of the call times is fed to the group supervisory control apparatus (2) as the statistical data to perform a group supervisory control.
The traffic condition of an elevator greatly varies dependent on time zones as shown in FIG. 4. In the conventional system, the time zones having the same time width are applied as shown in the time axis TA, to the time from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. which indicates a small change in traffic condition at night and to the times of 7 a.m.-9 a.m., 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4 p.m.-6 p.m. which indicate large changes in traffic condition in day. The statistical data for time zones in which the change of traffic condition is large become coarse thereby resulting in inferior elevator services. In order to increase the number of time zones to improve the disadvantage, the number of the call times memory circuits (14)-(37) must be increased thereby increasing cost. It can be considered that long time zones are provided at night time as a fixed time zone. However, it may vary dependent on buildings and the seasons.